Mayor, council suspend public art projects

Budget deficit spurs move, but savings questioned

San Diego  The scheduled sprucing up of San Diego libraries and fire stations with public art has been put on hold as the city continues to wrestle with a financial crisis.

The City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to suspend about $630,000 in public arts funding at the behest of Mayor Jerry Sanders, who says the spending can’t be justified when the city needs to close a $56.7 million deficit in its $1.1 billion operating budget.

His urging coincides with a similar request from Gov. Jerry Brown, who has suggested that public art be considered on a case-by-case basis as part of his efforts to rid the state of redevelopment agencies.

The decision puts a complete halt to seven art projects set for city libraries, fire stations and other public areas. It also puts three other projects at risk of stopping before they’re complete. What the move doesn’t do is save any money. Since the vote was simply to suspend funding — not cancel it — the thousands of dollars set aside for public art projects will still be available. It just won’t be distributed.

That reason was enough for Councilman Todd Gloria, whose constituency includes the art-centric areas of Hillcrest and City Heights, to cast the sole dissenting vote.

Some of the projects that will lose funding include art at the Mission Hills branch library, fire stations in City Heights, Mission Valley and Hillcrest, and a pump station in Scripps Ranch.

Three of the seven projects are in Gloria’s district. On top of not saving the city money, postponing them essentially takes jobs away from the people contracted to create them, he said.

“Those people deserve work too,” Gloria said. “More importantly, they can do it cheaper now than they will a few years from now. ... I can’t support something that’s going to put people out of work.”

For Councilman Carl DeMaio, the suspension doesn’t go far enough. He said the money could be funneled away from public arts projects and toward $840 million backlog of road, water and facilities projects.

“The prettiest fire station is an open fire station and that’s what we really have to remember,” DeMaio said. “Let’s see how we can re-prioritize these expenditures and get this money moved back to core services. To not do so, I think, is really not understanding the core role that government has.”

Suspension of public art funding is one of a host of measures Sanders has proposed in his quest to close the budget gap. Some of those are big, such as saving millions by slashing hours at libraries and recreation centers, and others small, such as saving $120,500 in maintenance costs by removing city fire pits from city beaches.

Before the next fiscal year ends on June 30, 2012, council members will have the option to lift the suspension on public arts funding. They could also opt to reduce or reallocate those dollars to other projects like street improvements or alert systems for firefighters.